Last Friday a priest was stabbed.
That’s not some weird variation on the classic bar + religious signifier setup, that’s a real incident. In Montreal’s Saint Joseph’s Oratory, a 26 year-old man abruptly interrupted the sermon in progress when he stood up from the pews and stabbed Father Claude Grou in the chest.
The Father’s wounds were superficial, the knife broke, and the suspect was quickly apprehended. It’s because of that relatively happy ending that I feel I can be a bit flippant in my tone towards the incident.
But I’m also being flippant because there was a significant segment of Canada’s population that desperately wanted this to be something more than it was.
On Friday morning, shortly after the news broke on Twitter, there was a sudden spike in searches for “Montreal priest.”
Let’s look at what happens when we add the word “Muslim” to that same search...”Montreal priest Muslim.” Notice the peak occurs a brief time AFTER the initial breaking news.
What changed during the short time span? For that, let’s take a look at the evolving tweets of Canada’s favourite racist, Faith Goldy:
Nothing too extreme yet...but then things rapidly take a turn for the right. The alt-right.
She goes quiet for a while on the subject. Then, this:
In point of fact, the suspect’s name had been released: Vlad Cristian Eremia. Yes, a man so steeped in Islamic terrorism that his middle name is literally Christian.
It didn’t matter, though.
And what of the Conservative politicians who have posed with Goldy, invited her to events, worked with her and other White Nationalists on their campaign teams and in their offices? Here’s CPC leader Andrew Scheer:
Here as well is famed Tweet-Blocker, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel:
Andrew Scheer’s tweet came MINUTES after news broke of the attack on Twitter. By comparison, he waited several hours before posting his statement on the Christchurch terrorist attack, in which he condemned an attack on “freedom.”
None of this is accidental.
It’s not an accident that the right-wing eagerly embraced the narrative that this was “violence for practising their faith.” It’s not an accident that Scheer positioned this non-fatal stabbing incident as a moment to talk about communities “gathering for prayer in peace and safety,” while at the same time refusing to acknowledge the obvious targeting of Muslims in Christchurch until compelled to do so by media pressure.
And it’s especially not accidental that Scheer, Rempel, and other Conservative politicians refuse to denounce and revoke support from people and places like Rebel Media and Faith Goldy, who in turn refuses to denounce or correct the people who follow her and spread conspiracy theories like “the authorities hiding the identity of the real assailant.”
We know that when they seize on moments like this, it’s because Google traffic gets spiked through the roof, alt-right supporters donate money, and their votes get locked up for next election.
In Alberta, we’re seeing UCP candidates exposed with Transphobic, White Nationalist, Misogynistic views on the regular. That’s not accidental either.
Rumours into votes into institutions.
Let’s think about quashing things right in the rumours phase, shall we?